This invention relates generally to video action games and more particularly to the positioning of equipment used in the play of such games.
Video games are interactive games played on television sets or television monitors. The games generally involve the motion of images and the manipulation of symbols that appear on TV screens. The players either match their skills against each other or against the software programs incorporated in the electronic circuits in the games. Points are scored according to the relative skill used in moving the symbols.
One common video game is the shooting game wherein the players simulate shooting targets that are displayed and moved on a TV screen. The players use hand-held guns that extend from the game cabinets. Usually in these games the gun contains an optical detector circuit in its muzzle and operates on the light radiated from the TV screen. The output signal from the optical detector is passed by a control cable to the electronic control circuitry within the game cabinet. When the trigger of the gun is squeezed, the electronic control circuitry measures the player's aim point on the TV screen. More specifically, the control circuitry checks for the coincidence of the optical detector's output and the occurance of the video signal producing the image aimed at on the TV screen. The control circuitry thus determines whether or not the player has hit the image displayed on the screen.
Within the field of shooting games there are some games that challenge the skill of the player with one of America's most traditional contests -- the fast draw shootout. In these games the players try to outdraw a gun fighter that is suddenly displayed on the TV screen. In playing the game each player pulls a replica of a pistol from a holster mounted on the game cabinet and attempts to shoot the image of an outlaw. The electrical control circuitry determines who drew first, who fired first, and who hit whom.
A continuing problem in developing the fast draw type game has been the inability to prevent the players from defeating the game by prematurely drawing the gun and waiting with the gun poised for the image to appear. In the past mechanical relays, proximity switches and microswitches have been used to signal the withdrawal of the gun from the holster. When these switches have been used, the games are easily defeated by players who depress the mechanical switches with sticks or metal rods. The player can then simultaneously release the holster switch and pull the trigger of the gun.
Another problem occurring with the fast draw type games has been in designing a holster switch that can stand up to the physical wear and tear common to these games. Besides the cyclical drawing of the gun and the wear from players trying to defeat the switch, there is the physical abuse that the public gives these machines.